CLAIM 



OF THE 



CITY OF CHARLESTOWN 



AGAINST THE 



BUNKER HILL MONUMEN 
ASSOCIATION. 



CITY OF CHARLESTOWN. 



CITY CLERK'S OFFICE, June 12, 1866. 
To the Directors of the 

Bunker Hill Monument Association : 
Gentlemen : In compliance with an order of the City Coun- 
cil, passed June 11th, 1866, I herewith forward to you a copy 
of the several Reports made and Orders passed in relation to 
the claim of the City of Charlestown against the Bunker Hill 
Monument Association, for the expense of laying out Monu- 
ment Avenue in said city, in 1852. 
Very respectfully. 

Your Obedient Servant, 

DANIEL WILLIAMS, 

Cit]/ Clerk. 



In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, 
June 11, 1866. 
Ordered, That the City Treasurer is hereby ordered to de- 
mand of the Treasurer of the Bunker ILll Monument Associa- 
tion the payment of the amount due the City for opening Monu- 
ment Avenue, in accordance with the agreement made with that 
Association, and that the City Clei'k send to each Director of 
the Association, before the 17th of this month, a copy in print, 
of the several reports made to the City Council upon the claim. 
Sent down for concurrence, 

Daniel Williams, City Clerk. 
In Common Council, June 11, 1866. 
Concurred, 

JouN T. Priest, Clerk. 



In Board of Mayor axd Aldermen, 
May 28tli, 1861. 
Ordered^ That the Committee on Finance be directed to in- 
quire and report what action, if anj, is necessary to be taken to 
recover of the Bunker Hill Monument Association the amount 
agreed to be paid annually, to indemnify the City for laying 
out Monument Avenue. 

Sent down for concurrence, 

Charles Poole, City Clerk. 

In Common Council, July 8th, 1861. 

Concurred, G. V. Hall, Clerk. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 

The Joint Standing Committee on Finance, to whom was re- 
ferred the Order of the City Council, of the 28th of May last, 
having considered the matter, submit the following 

EEPOET: 

By examination of the papers on file in the Clerk's OflSice, it 
appears that, July 26, 1852, the Mayor of the City, Mr. Frothing- 
ham, presented to the City Council, by a written message, a propo- 
sition in writing from the Bunker Hill Monument Association, rel- 
ative to opening a street from Monument Square to Warren Street. 
This proposition asked the City " to lay out and open a public 
Street, forty feet wide, from the steps on Monument Square, on 
High Street, in front of the Monument, to Warren Street, accord- 
ing to a plan drawn by ]\[essrs. Doane, July 9, 1850," and stated 
that " by authority of a legal vote of the Association, their Com- 
mittee hereby offer to pay to the City of Charlestown the sum of 



sis hundred dollars annually, for fifteen consecutive years, the first 
payment to bo made on the first day of July, 1854, provided the 
City Council will by a legal vote lay out the street as proposed 
within one year from the 17th of June next, and will open it for 
public use within two years from the day last named." 

There is appended a certificate of the record of the meeting of 
the Association, authorizing the ofi"er in the following language, 

"Boston, April 16, 1852. 

" A special meeting of the Bunker Hill Monument Association 
having been diily and legally notified by the Secretary, was held 
at the Eailroad Exchange, in Court Square, in Boston, on this 
Friday afternoon, April 16, A. D. 1852, at which it was 

Voted, That application be immediately made by a committee 
consisting of the President, Gr. Washington Warren, and Messrs. 
Joseph T. Buckingham, Kobert G. Shaw, John C. Warren, Stephen 
P. Fairbanks, Edward Brooks and Thomas B. Curtis, to the Mayor 
and Aldermen of the City of Charlestown, to lay out a Street, not 
less than forty feet wide, from the front steps of Monument Square, 
on High Street, in Charlestown, to Warren Street, in said city, and 
that said Committee be hereby authorized on the part of this Asso- 
ciation, to ofi^er to the City of Charlestown for the purpose, the sum 
of six hundred dollars a year, for fifteen consecutive years, the 
first payment to be made on the first day of July, in the year one 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, on condition that said street 
be laid out within one year from the seventeenth day of Juno, next 
ensuing, and completed within two years from that day. 
A true copy from the records, 

Attest, J. H. Buckingham, 

Secretary of B. H. M. Association." 

Mr. Frothingham, the Mayor, in his communication accompany- 
ing the above proposal, urged upon the consideration of the City 
Council, the expediency of accepting it, and the adoption of meas- 
ures to lay out the avenue as prayed for. The message and propo- 
sition were referred by concurrent vote of the two boards to the 
Joint Committee on Laying out Streets, who, August 9, 1852, made 



6 



an elaborate and argumentative report, recommending the council 
to lay out said street. The report was accepted and an order pass- 
ed to lay it out, and it was done at an expense of $10,300. 

At a subsequent date, February, 1853, the Association sent a 
memorial to have said street, or avenue, altered, widened and con- 
tinued or extended to Main Street, and the width increased 
to fifty feet, and a petition of 173 of our citizens accompanied it, 
recommending the prayer thereof. These papers were referred to 
the same committee, and on September 12, 1853, a report was 
made by the committee adverse to the petition, and the same was 
accepted. 

The said street was laid out in the manner proposed and named 
]\Ionument Avenue. It is said that the avenue, at and near its 
junction with High Street, is not fully forty feet wide, though laid 
out fully that width, there being a dwelling house there on the 
southeasterly side, not yet cut off or removed, it being understood 
at the time between the city authorities and said association that 
the house need not be removed or cut off for that purpose, provided 
that when the house should be removed, the street or avenue is to 
be made of the full width of forty feet. 

Under this agreement the association has paid four instalments 
of six hundred dollars each as follows, viz : 

July 2, 1855, Two instalments, - - $1200 
" 7, 1856, One do. . - - - 600 
" 11, 1857, One do. - - - - 600 



$2-100 



Since which it has paid nothing, leaving the instalments of the 
years 1858, 1859, 1860, and 1861, unpaid and due, with the in- 
terest thereon, and the committee are informed that the association 
has been requested from time to time, to pay the said instalments 
in arrears, but had omitted and failed so to do, for no reason known 
to the Committee. 

The Committee, as at present advised, know no reason why these 



instalments should not be paid, The city expended its money and 
laid out said avenue on the faith of said agreement of indemnity, 
and the Committee are of opinion that the same ought to be collected 
if it can be, and for the accomplishment of said purpose they re- 
commend the passage of the accompanying order. 
For the Committee, 

HOKACE G. HUTCHINS, Chairman. 



In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, 

October 22nd, 1861. 
Keport accepted and sent down for concurrence. 

Charles Poole, City Clerk. 
In Common Council, October 29, 1861. 
Concurred. 

G. V. Hall, Clerk. 



In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, 
October 22nd, 1861. 
Ordered, That the Committee on Finance be directed to take 
the necessary measures to obtain the payment of the several 
annual instalments due to the City from the Bunker Hill Mon- 
ument Association, as indemnity for expenses in laying out 
Monument Avenue ; and interest thereon. 
Sent down for concurrence, 

Charles Poole, Cit]/ Clerk. 
In Common Council, October 29, 1861. 
Concurred. 

G. V. Hall, Clerk. 



To the City Council of the City of Charlestown : 

The Committee on Finance respectfully request the atten- 
tion of the City Council to the claim which the City has against 
the Bunker Hill Monument Association, by reason of a contract 
between the Association and the City in relation to the laying out 



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of Monument Avenue as a public street, according to the proposi- 
tion of the association. 

For a full statement as to this claim the Committee refer to the 
report of the Finance Committee made to the City government, in 
October, 1861. 

It appears that there is now due to the city from the association, 
seven annual instalments, each of six hundred dollars, from 1858 
to 1864, inclusive, amounting to $4,200, with interest thereon from 
the time when the several instalments were respectively due. 

The Committee believe that said sum and interest are justly due 
to the City from the Association by virtue of said contract, and 
they know of no reason why said instalments should not have been 
paid as they respectively became due and payable, and in order to 
secure the rights of the city they recommend the passage of the 
accompanying order. 

For the Committee, 

CHAS. EOBINSON, Jr., Chairman. 



In Board of Mayor and Aldermen, 
May 15th, 1865. 
Ordered^ That the Mayor request the Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment Association to pay to the City the several annual sums 
or instalments now remaining unpaid, with the interest thereon, 
and due to the City by virtue of a certain proposition and con- 
tract made and entered into by and between the City and said 
Association in the year 1852, in relation to the laying out of 
Monument Avenue, and which are now due to the City by 
reason of the City's having laid out said Avenue as a public 
street, agreeably to said proposition ; and that the Mayor cause 
such action and proceedings to be had as shall secure the pay- 
ment of the same. ^ ^ 
Passed and sent down for concurrence, 

Daniel Williams, Citij Clerk. 
In Common Council, May 15th, 1865. 

Concurred, G. V. Hall, Clerk. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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